  "Dutko turned to Lake Capital because we wanted a financial partner that could bring more than the capability to help us scale. Already a leading public policy management company in both size and reputation, Dutko needed a partner that would share, challenge and help feed our vision to build an industry changing company of global significance. With anyone's equity capital we could get bigger, but with Lake's hands-on approach we are building a better, more strategic, sector-leading company in many more regions around the globe." Mark Irion, |
We focus on investing selectively in a limited number of middle-market,
service-based companies with the potential for growth. What sets us apart is our definition of investing. We provide more than capital. We add value. Lake Capital was founded on the belief that growing businesses need more than capital to achieve their full potential. The firm's founders and other key Lake Capital professionals began their careers as entrepreneurs and business operators. Our principals have decades of experience in creating, leading, and managing successful service-based companies. We leverage that experience to enhance efficiency and performance and to pursue growth while continuing to enable a company's management team to lead the business on a day-to-day basis. Because we have been in the chair of those with whom we seek to partner, active support of our management partners in developing and executing growth strategies is our hallmark. Our focus
Service-based businesses currently account for more than 40 percent of the
U.S. Gross Domestic Product. We believe service-based businesses offer
outstanding potential for capital appreciation. Among the areas we
target:
Identifying opportunities
We draw on a network of key relationships with bankers, business owners,
accountants, attorneys, and many other referral sources to identify investment
opportunities. Typically, opportunities fall into three categories:
First, research
We conduct rigorous industry research and due diligence with regard to management,
growth prospects, competition, and past and potential financial performance.
We look for:
Aligning interests
We understand the importance of aligning the interests of the sellers and
managers of portfolio companies with the interests of Lake Capital and its
investors. We structure transactions in ways that motivate key people to
remain committed, protect client relationships and set the stage for organic
and acquisition-driven growth. Investment
We typically allocate $40 million or more of equity to each portfolio company
initiative. Typically, a portion of the allocation goes into the initial
transaction to acquire a base "platform," leaving a substantial amount of
additional equity capital to carry out an organically and acquisitions-driven
growth strategy. In addition, with seller financing, third-party debt, and
co-investment opportunities, significant capital in addition to the initial
equity allocation is available to each initiative. In fact, we have allocated
equity well in excess of $100 million to several initiatives. Our hallmark: active support
We work actively with the management of our portfolio companies, and our
management partners have found us to be informed, involved and interested,
without being intrusive. We interact with our executives every week, not
just at quarterly board meetings. Our frequent interaction, combined with
our own experiences sitting in the chair of the entrepreneur and business
operator, allows us to work effectively with our executive partners. We
focus on measurability and accountability for everyone involved, including
us. We also provide resources that might not otherwise have been available. Our Portfolio Company Services Team is a unique group of in-house Lake professional resources with extensive experience managing finance and accounting, HR, operations, IT systems implementation and integration, marketing and communications, and business development and cross-selling, among other areas. Our team is able to work with you at the strategic level and then oversee the tactical implementation of the plan on a day-to-day basis, supplementing your own staff when necessary. We also generally perform acquisition-related activities for our portfolio companies, freeing management teams to focus on the day-to-day execution of their businesses. Goals for companies in which we invest
We concentrate on a limited number of high-quality investments so we can
give each portfolio company the attention and resources necessary to foster
accelerated organic and acquisition-driven growth that can produce significant
capital appreciation. We look to make 3-5 platform investments each year.
For each company, we seek to:
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